Love on a Silver Platter
by Vela Cruze
Summary: Millionare Helga Pataki returns to Hillwood Falls for a family reunion. She tries to reconnect with her family with the help of a certain football head. Possible rating change.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Helga Pataki was not unknown to fame. At the young age of twenty-five, she was already raking in millions of dollars every year. Her successful business venture, Pataki Enterprises, based in New York City, was pretty much known around the world. They manufactured everything from the plastic around the ends of shoe strings to computer motherboards. Helga was even named the female Donald Trump. However, her social life was all but non-existent. She had no time for herself. But all that was about to change. It was a bright sunny afternoon when she arrived in her hometown of Hillwood Falls. The annual Pataki Family reunion was taking place that Saturday. And although, Helga had plenty of other things to do, she decided to pay her estranged immediate family a visit. She pulled into the driveway of her former home. "All right Helga, it's been five years…but just pretend like everything is okay." She sighed and marched up to the front door. Her mom answered on the fifth knock. "Helga? I didn't think you were coming."

"Well Olga begged me too. She said fidgeting with the frill of her business suit.

"Well come in. We're just about to sit down to lunch."

She followed her mother into the dining room where her family was waiting. "Well if it isn't the black sheep."

"I'm not a black sheep, dad."

"You haven't called, visited, or even written in 5 years. I think that qualifies as black sheep materiel."

"Bob, Helga I will not tolerate this bickering. She's here now and that's all that matters. Helga have seat and let's eat lunch like a family." Miriam ordered.

Helga shook her head as she took her seat. Her father was the reason she left in the first place. He claimed that she was nothing but a slacker and that she would never make anything of herself. This made Helga's blood boil. She wanted more than anything to prove to her father that she could do anything Olga could do possibly even better. That's why she started Pataki Enterprises. After chatting about her business in New York, Miriam started another conversation. "So Helga how's you life there?"

"It's great. I'm thinking about moving to my summer house."

"Where's that?"

"In Los Angeles. A new office is opening there and they need some help getting it off the ground. So I'll probably be spending a lot of time out there."

"I bet you think your so much better than everyone else don't you?" Bob said sneering at her.

"What are you talking about Dad?"

"You come gallivanting in here on your high horse with your nose in the air thinking you're so much better than us…"

"I never said that!"

"Might as well. You don't have any contact with us for five years and now you come in here bragging about your business and your summer houses."

"I don't have to take this." She snapped gathering her things and walking away.

"Bob why did you do that?"

"I won't be snubbed in my own house!"

Helga marched down the sidewalk in an angry huff. Spying a diner across the street she walked inside and sat in a booth.

"What's your pleasure?"

She looked up and her scowl immediately disappeared. The waiter she was staring at had the friendliest blue eyes she had ever seen. He had a sexy half smile spread across his lips. His odd yet charming football shaped head had a small blue hat resting on his messy blonde hair. "Miss, what's your pleasure?"

"Oh, I'll have the club with no tomatoes and a Sprite."

The man took down the order and returned a short time later with her Sprite.

Helga sighed heavily and took a sip from her soda. "Is something bothering you?" the waiter asked sitting across from her.

"Nah. Nothing worth talking about anyway. I might as well go back to New York."

"What's wrong with Hillwood Falls?"

"Two words: my family."

"It can't be that bad. There's nothing like your family after all."

She smiled and shook her head, "You haven't met mine."

"Dysfunctional?"

"Without a doubt."

"I know what you mean. For the last two years of my grandmother's life she thought she was Queen Elizabeth."

Helga hid her smile with her hand. "Order up!" the cook yelled from the kitchen.

"I better get that." He stood, "Oh by the way I'm Arnold."

"Helga."

"All right Helga. Let me get your sandwich."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When Arnold returned with her sandwich, he also had a plateful of French fries and a glass of soda.

"Don't you have other customers?" Helga asked biting into her sandwich.

"I'm on my lunch break. Unless you don't want me to…"

"No it's all right. I liked talking with you. So what do you do?"

"Besides working in the diner, I'm a mechanic. I'm actually working on opening my own shop. That's why I'm working here."

"How long have you been working here?"

"For about 4 years. My shop's on hold though. My family's boardinghouse is in bad shape. I think the bank is going to foreclose."

"That's awful."

"Yeah but I don't want to bore you with my sob story. What's up with you? What do you do?"

"I own my own business. It's a manufacturing company actually."

Arnold nodded and smiled. He opened his mouth to speak but his cell phone interrupted him. Arnold held up his index finger telling Helga, one minute. "Hello? Oh hey Gerald. Is it tonight? I can't, I don't have…I know that's what I said but…Fine. I'll see ya then. All right. Bye." He hung up the phone and sighed.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm the best man in my best friend's wedding. And his engagement party is tonight."

"Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, his fiancée's maid-of-honor is my ex-girlfriend, and we hate each other so I don't have a date for tonight. This means I gotta pretend to like Beth for two hours so I won't be alone. Unless…" He gave Helga devious grin.

"Unless what?"

"Unless…nah I couldn't ask you to do this. You're a stranger and probably wouldn't want to…"

"Want to do what?"

"Be my date for tonight."

Helga's eyes widen; it had been nearly two years since her last date and she really enjoyed spending time with this person. "Arnold, break time's up."

"Man I gotta go. What do you say?"

She looked down and nodded, "All right, I'll do it."

"Oh man thanks a lot. You're saving my hind end. Thanks again." His hand brushed hers and Helga felt the color rise in her cheeks. "I'll pick you up tonight around…"

"No, I'll meet you, in front of the diner. What time?"

"7:30 good?"

"It's fine. I'll see you then."

Helga searched through all of her suitcases trying to find something to wear that night. But all she had was business clothes. "Ah crap. The first date I've had in years and I don't have anything to wear."

A knock on her hotel door interrupted her search for clothes. "Olga? What do you want?"

"I just wanted to make sure your coming tonight."  
"Coming where?"  
"Dinner tonight, with me, mom, and dad."

Helga's face gave away her feelings. "You forgot? Helga how could you?"

"With dad hating me and all I figured he didn't want me around. I have a date for tonight."

"But we're your family."

"Look I'll do something with you tomorrow. Now I've got to get ready to leave. So you need to go."

"But Helga…"

"Go." She said digging in her suitcases again.

Olga sighed and left her sister alone. After a few more hours of searching for an outfit Helga finally chose a black summer dress. When she was finally dressed she met Arnold in front of the diner at 7:30 on the dot. "You look wonderful." He said taking her hands and looked her over.

"Thank you. So do you."

"Yeah well, I'm not really a suit and tie kind of guy." Arnold said tugging at his tie.

"Here…" she adjusted his tie and dusted his shoulders, "You're handsome."

"Come on. We're already late." He said leading her down the street.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Arnold held Helga's hand as he led them through the packed dinning room. "Come on Gerald is over here." He pushed through the last group of people and found his friend lingering over the dessert table. "Gerald." Arnold called.

Gerald turned around and spotted his best friend, "Arnold. Long time no see loser."

"You know me always busy." He smiled and shook his friend's hand, "How go the wedding plans?"

"Phoebe is going absolutely nuts. My mom wants Phoebe to wear her wedding dress and use the same flowers she used. So where's your date?" he asked teasingly.

"Right here." Arnold smiled proudly as Helga walked forward.

"How in the world did you get a date with one of the richest women on the east coast?" he asked staring hard at Helga.

"Close your mouth, man, your drooling."

"How do you do? I'm Gerald."

"Helga."

"Gerald, if I have to hear about how beautiful your mom's dress is one more time I swear I'll scream!" Phoebe said walking up to them and slipping her arm through her fiancée's, "I thought this was my wedding."

"Actually it's our wedding."

"If you don't get your mom to back off then it will be no one's wedding, and your funeral. Because I will strangle you."

"Hi Phoebe."

"Hey Arnold." She said sullenly, suddenly though she perked up when she noticed the blonde attached to Arnold's arm, "Helga?"

Helga nodded, "Phoebe! I thought you looked familiar."

"You know Helga Pataki?" Gerald asked totally taken aback.

"Oh yeah. Helga and I went to private school together."

"Yep and we graduated Highschool together. Best friends forever right?"

"Yeah right. You went to college and became some big business tycoon. What brings you to our humble world? Hopefully not to help with this local charity case." She said pointing to Arnold.

"For your information, Helga is my date for the evening."

"Yeah right and Donald Trump gives out free bags of money every Saturday."

Helga smiled, her 'friends' never had fun like this. They spent their time talking about business. This was the most fun she had had at a party in years. "Who's your date Arnold?" said an obviously snobbish voice from behind. Arnold slowly turned around and turned up his nose, "Hello Beth."

"In the flesh. So who's the bimbo?"

"Helga Pataki actually." Helga said facing her mocker.

Beth snorted, "I thought you business moguls only dated up. But he must be one of your charity cases."

"Look I came out with Arnold tonight because I really wanted to spend time with him. He's a great guy and a lot of fun to be with."

Beth rolled her eyes and walked away. "You're a brave soul, Helga Pataki. You stood up to Beth Anderson. No one ever does that." Phoebe said clapping her hands.

A slow song began to swirl through the air. "Come Gerald let's dance. It may be your last." She led him onto the dance floor.

"Thanks for that." Arnold said nudging Helga's arm.

"She was being rude."

"It's just how she is. Which is exactly why I broke up with her…Hey do you wanna dance?"

"Sure." He wrapped his fingers around hers and led her to the dance floor. The rest of the evening went by so smoothly. "So do you want me to walk you back to your hotel?"

"I'd like that."

They walked silently down the sidewalk. Being the bold soul that he was, Arnold reached over and held Helga's hand. This made her cheeks flush deep red. "Thank you for a marvelous evening." She said stopping in front of the hotel.

"No problem. You were the one who saved me from having to spend the evening with Beth." He said shuddering at the very thought.

"Could we possibly go out again? I mean I had such a great time and I would really like to see you again."

"Sure."

"Here…" She took out a pen and wrote her name and number on his hand, "Give me a call."

"I will."

"Goodnight, Arnold."

"Goodnight, Helga."

He took a deep breath and was about to walk away when suddenly he whirled around and kissed Helga. "Sorry I've wanted to do that all night."

He ran down the sidewalk leaving Helga completely speechless.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning, Helga woke up happier than she had in a long time. Her night with the interesting waiter was still fresh in her mind. She slipped out of bed and took a quick shower. After Helga was dressed, she sat on her bed watching the news and drinking a cup of coffee. Her good morning ended abruptly when her sister showed up. "What do you want Olga?" She asked.

"Mom sent me to get you. She wants you to come eat with us."

"But dad…"

"Is going to cool it. Don't worry it'll be fine."

Helga chewed on her nail thoughtfully, "Can I bring a friend?"

"Sure. I invited my boyfriend too."

"All right, give me about thirty minutes."

Olga smiled with relief, "All right. I'll see you at mom and dad's then."

Helga shut the door and leaned against it. "Why am I doing this? I know dad is going to find a way to insult Me." she said huffing.

She stood up and grabbed her cell phone. It showed Arnold had called early that morning. She redialed the number and was greeted by Arnold's chipper voice, "Hello?"

"Arnold, hi, it's Helga."

"Helga! I called earlier this morning."

"I was in the shower I didn't check my phone until recently."

"Well I was going to ask you out for breakfast but…"

"I'm sorry. Since I can't make breakfast how about we do lunch?"

"Lunch is good. I can make it."

"In thirty minutes?"

"What am I, a pizza?"

Helga laughed, "I told my sister I'd be at my parents in thirty minutes."

"Oh…one date and you're already introducing me to the folks."

"Please. My dad and I aren't on speaking terms and I really need someone I can talk to."

"All right, I'll meet you outside your hotel okay?"

"Great thanks, Arnold."

She hung up the phone and got dressed. Arnold was standing outside waiting for her. "Ready to go?" he asked taking her hand.

"Yeah."

The walked down the sidewalk hand in hand. A lot of the people recognized the couple and seemed surprise to see the local mechanic holding Helga Pataki's hand. Once they arrived in front of the Pataki house, Helga stopped Arnold and immediately began fixing his clothes and smoothing his hair. "So what's your family like anyway?"

"My mom's neurotic and my sister's just plain annoying." She said checking him over once more.

"Okay. You've straightened me out like ten times." He said moving her hands away.

"I'm sorry; it's just that my dad…he's extremely critical of me and how I choose to live my life. Insulting me is one thing but I simply won't have him insult you." she kissed his nose and took a deep breath, "All right. Prepare for the worse." She took his hand and opened the door. "Mom?"

"Helga?" Miriam stepped out of the kitchen and hugged her daughter, "Olga said you were coming…and she also said you were bringing a friend." She continued looking at Arnold.

"Mom this is Arnold. Arnold this is my mother, Miriam." Helga said pointing to her guest.

"Hi." He waved nervously.

"You two head into the living room. I'll have lunch ready in a few minutes."

"Thanks mom."

She grabbed Arnold's hand and led him into the living room. Olga and her boyfriend were sitting on the couch and thankfully Bob was no where in sight.

"Baby Sister, I'm so glad you decided to come." Olga squealed and locked Helga in her vice grip she called a hug.

"Olga, how about you let me go." Helga pleaded.

Olga released her sister and introduced her boyfriend, "Helga this is my boyfriend Daniel. Daniel this is my Baby Sister…"

"Helga Pataki. Yes I know who you are." He said standing and kissing her hand, "Daniel Sutherland. And I am positively pleased to meet you." he said before kissing her hand again.

"Okay thank you." she pulled her hand away. Arnold stepped forward and caught her hand.

"Olga, Daniel this is Arnold."

Olga smiled wide and greeted him with a death grip hug. After she sat back down, Arnold gave Helga a bewildered look. "I told you she was annoying." She whispered in his ear.

The awkward silence was interrupted by Bob's presence. "Well if it isn't Helga and who's the trash you dragged in with you?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"That was unnecessary dad." Helga said, standing.

"It's the truth. I've seen you." he said pointing to Arnold, "You work in that diner over on 12th street don't ya?"

Arnold nodded even though he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"Yeah I didn't expect Helga to do any better than a waiter." He sneered, "Actually I didn't think she would get a man at all." He added chuckling a bit.

Helga's face flushed bright red with anger, "How dare you!" she said, "He's done nothing to you and you're insulting him? He is a guest in your home! How dare you!"

Arnold stood, "Maybe I should go…" he said, taking her hand.

"We both should. I knew it was a bad idea to come here." She said gathering her things and following Arnold out the door.

They walk down the sidewalk but stopped suddenly when Helga burst into tears, "I'm so sorry!" she said sobbing.

"Hey it's okay." He said wrapping his arm around her, "Don't cry."

"He was just so nasty to you!" she cried.

He pulled her into a hug and let her cry on his shoulder. "It's okay." He whispered stroking her hair.

When she finally stopped shaking enough to walk again, Arnold kept his arm around her waist.

"Can I buy you lunch?" she asked, her voice still shaking.

"I couldn't ask you to do that." Arnold said shaking his head.

"It's the least I could after what happened." She replied, "Please?"

"I've got a better idea: why don't we get a hotdog from that vendor down there and eat in the park. Then later tonight, you come over to my house and I'll cook dinner for both of us."

"You still want to hang out with me?" Helga asked surprised.

"Of course." Arnold answered, "You're amazing. I really like you."

"I like you too." She smiled and kissed his cheek, "I'm really sorry about my dad."

"Don't worry about him." Arnold said, "It's all right. Now let's just spend a pleasant afternoon together. Then after we watch the sunset, you and I can go eat dinner."

"When did you plan all this?"

"Just now. Come on, I'm starved." He wrapped his fingers around hers and they walked over to the hotdog vendor. A few minutes later found them sitting on a park bench, eating their hotdogs and enjoying each other's company. "So do you wanna be married some day?" he asked taking a big bite from his food.

"It would be nice. All the guys I've dated were such stiffs. Or they were just interested in my company and wanted my money. I'm still looking for Mr. Right. What about you?"

"After I broke up with Beth, I thought all women were the devil. That is until I met you."

"Thanks." She bit hungrily into her hotdog, "Sorry." She said her mouth full.

"See, you know how to have fun. Beth never ate like that." Arnold laughed, "I really like that about you."

She swallowed, "I love hotdogs. The last guy I dated hated them and acted like they're diseased or something. I mean he wouldn't even touch one. I'm just a normal girl who wants to have a good time with a guy that knows how to make me laugh."

Arnold simply smiled took another bite, "So how do you feel about kids?"

Helga stopped chewing, "I haven't really thought about it. I guess with the right man, kids will be okay."

Long after they had finished their lunch, Helga and Arnold were still sitting on the bench. They had been there for hours. Helga rested her head against his chest and Arnold kept his arm wrapped around her.

"This is nice." She said looking up at him.

"What the sunset?"

"Yeah and watching here with you."

Arnold smiled. He stroked her arm with his hand. "Can I kiss you?" he asked suddenly.

"What?"

"The last time I kinda caught you by surprise. I wanted to make sure you were ready this time." He explained, "So can I kiss you?"

She giggled and put her arms around his neck, "Does this answer your question?" she asked before firmly planting her lips against his.


End file.
